Adventures in Kilkenny

This past week has been full of hours of homework :( Who knew you'd have to work so hard? Isn't this supposed to be a vacation? Feels like one, with a side of accounting and marketing of course. This week I finalized all of my travel plans, soo with a slightly lighter wallet and grueling hours on ryanair.com, here they are:

Feb 4th: Kilkenny, Ireland
Feb 9-13th: London, UK
Feb 18th: Newgrange and Trim Castle, Ireland


Mar 5-7th: Milan, Italy
Mar 7-9th: Florence, Italy
Mar 9-11th: Rome, Italy
Mar 11-15: Verona, Italy
Mar 15-18: Barcelona, Spain
Mar 24th: Glendalough/Wicklow Mountains, Ireland


Apr 14th: Belfast, Northern Ireland
Apr 20-22: Munich, Germany

Anndd I think that's it. Going to try to fit a trip to Cork and the ring of Kerry sometime in April or May as well. Still a lot to see in Ireland :) 

So anywho, we all went on a day trip to Kilkenny yesterday. Kilkenny definitely reminded me of Galway, in that its this quaint little down, dates all the way back to medieval times, used to be one of the first walled cities, structured somewhat like a fish skeleton, with a cathedral as the head, Kilkenny Castle as the tail, and each bone in between would be homes, extending from the one main street all the way to the stone wall of the town. We visited the only remaining home that extends the whole way, Rothe House. This house has been remodeled and restored countless times, including the garden, made recently to look exactly as it did in the 16th century.

After the Rothe House, our program director Shauna took us out to lunch (we love free food) at this very nice hotel in the heart of Kilkenny. Warm potato soup, sandwiches and coffee have definitely become a staple in my diet. No complaints here. 


After lunch, Shauna gave us the rest of the day to do whatever we pleased. We meandered the streets of Kilkenny, one of the most popular things to do: shop. While we're all on a budget, it was definitely fun wandering around. In Kilkenny, there are the obvious streets that the shops are on, but then in between each shop, there is an alleyway connecting that street to another one. The alleyways are where the best shops were, including homemade liccoirce and other yummy treats.

Annnd yes, as shown in the picture, is was of course raining all day :( But we've definitely gotten used to it by now. After exploring the city for an hour or two, we made our way up to Kilkenny Castle. Normally when we have seen castles, they've been in the middle of nowhere surrounded by vast hills etc. Not here. Since this was the town's original castle, it is smack dab in the city.

For a small fee, we got to tour the inside of the castle, where photography wasn't allowed. Oops. I snuck a few. The gardens were absolutely beautiful, even in the middle of winter. Exploring the castle, we found secret passageways and beds that not even I would fit in :( My favorite room was definitely the Picture Gallery, where portraits of all the families from generations that lived in the castle. 

UCD

As per my mother's request, here's a little tour of the UCD (University College Dublin) campus.  Living on campus has its ups and downs. We are a ten to fifteen minute bus ride to city centre Dublin and on campus accomodation is a five minutes walk to most academic buildings,which definitely comes in handy with the Ireland mist every morning. 

So first off, I live in Glenomena Residence Hall, which is probably half UCD students and half international students like me. Its in a sort of apartment style, where there is a common area with a living room and kitchen, and then there are six . Ps rainbows are everywhere. 

On my walk to class every day, all the academic buildings are connected with covered pathways, also very handy with the casual rain downpours at any given moment :) 

All of my classes are in Quinn, the business school on campus. The building is the spitting image of the business building at U of I, except with trees and a Starbucks in the middle atrium.

My favorite place on campus is definitely the campus lake. Its a pretty big man-made lake, kind of looking like a giant pool. The water is absolutely disgusting, so swimming in it is illegal, however there are steps leading into it on all sides, mostly just for sitting around hanging out when it gets warmer.

Aside from Quinn, another building that us international students frequent is the Global Lounge. Its around for us to mingle, watch american television, hook up our computers and watch movies on this giant screen...and also hosts several events during the week such as coffee hours and pizza eating competitions :)

Galway Girl

Back from Galway!! Mk and I got up at 6am Saturday morning to catch a bus to Galway, Ireland for the weekend. After a two and half hour bus ride (only 6 euro may i add) we sleepily attempted to find her cousin's university that he is studying at for the semester. So, as of now, I have met two of Mk's cousins, having dated her other one for a year now. 

Galway is on the west coast of Ireland, mostly known for its proximity to the Aran Islands and the Cliffs of Moher. It's definitely a college town, which was a nice change of scenery from the hustle bustle of Dublin. We learned our way around the town in less than half an hour, half because of its small size, and half because of how freakishly nice everybody is to us Americans and our "precious' accents. The town is set up similar to Dublin in that there is one main street with all the shopping, and then branching off of it are streets upon streets full of pubs and clubs. 

When we got there, after dropping off all our stuff at Mk's cousins place, we went straight to the city centre market, which we had read about earlier before we left. I am now in love with markets. Definitely the best way to eat on the go, everything is so cheap and as close to homemade food Ive gotten since I left home. We found this man that makes donuts for you right on the spot, then covers them in cinnamon sugar (yummy!) I swear I would make the trek all the way there again for another. 

After that, and getting a bite to eat at at pub in city centre, we went out for a night on the town Galway style. Again, the town had such a college feel. Went to a pub with live irish music and created our own pub/club crawl. Finally found Mk, who loves to meet new people as much as I do. We make friends easily from grandpas, to boys wearing batmen tshirts.

Sunday morning we took yet another early bus on a bus tour of the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher. After getting on the coach bus, we all realized that we perhaps should have done the bus tour first THEN gone out, not the other way around. Nothing a little soup and bread couldn't fix. 

The burren is this vast area of fields, except instead of grass, the whole area is covered in rock. While this sounds totally unattractive, the landscape is definitely beautiful and nothing I had ever seen before. Some people compared it to the moon, but honestly I just thought it was pretty and saw no comparison.

Under the burren, we went on a caves tour and walked around for some fresh air before we loaded back onto the bus to head to the cliffs. We all were blessed with the most perfect beautiful day. Opposite of the normal ireland countryside weather, there was not a cloud in the sky and was perfectly still with no wind. 

The cliffs are unlike any attraction in the states. At niagra falls, you pass through the visitors center, and there are sidewalks and handrails and whatnot to guide the tourists. I was dumbfounded to see no such thing here. While yes, there was a visitor's center, trails around the cliffs are made by so many people jumping a "fence" that seemed to have been put in place 100 years ago. Our tourguide said that usually he tells people to keep a realllly far distance from the cliffs due to the terribly strong winds. He said do no such thing. Its beautiful out. So we did. 

After spending an hour or two at the cliffs, our tourguide took us out to lunch at one of his favorite nearby pubs, and we made way to another castle in the countryside. Dunguaire Castle was directly on our way home on the coast of the atlantic. When we got there, it was closed for tours, but we got to wander the grounds and circle the entire castle.

St Michan's Mummies

I had never seen a mummy before, so when we heard that Madeline was taking us to St Michan's church north of the river, I was super excited. The crypts are under the church, and to get to them, we had to go outside and around the back, and crawl into a tiny staircase. They told us photography was frowned upon, but hey we couldn't resist. I'll refrain from posting most of the pictures though, because honestly they're kind of icky.

The interesting thing is that the wealthiest families in Ireland still continue to be buried there. The most popular mummy is that of a crusader, and is on display for viewing. you walk down the halls and there are rooms locked off with gates that these families own. Personally, I don't want to end up somewhere where tourists walk in and out all day, but that's just me.

Feels Like Home

We've definitely taken advantage of all the trips that our program is putting on for us here.  This past Thursday, our director Madeline took probably a hundred of us to a pub outside of Dublin to see some real Irish dancing and some local music. Best part of the night hands down, Mk was pulled onstage to dance with them, pretty sure they were just trying to embarrass her, little did they know she took lessons and competed for 10 years when she was little.

We love taking pictures with bands.

The next day we went to the Guinness storehouse, which was definitely worth the walk in the freezing cold all the way there. You basically walk around a museum dedicated to showing people why Guinness is spectacular and other beers are all a disgrace. 

At the top of the storehouse is a 180 degree bar with windows overlooking the entire city of Dublin. Despite the fact that it was packed to capacity with people, it was definitely the best view Ive seen of the city. When you order a Guinness at the bar, the bartenders shape a shamrock into the foam on the top.

After cooking for ourselves for a week, Madeline took us all out to Millstone, and treated us all to a three course meal. Hands down, the most popular soup here is vegetable soup. However, its not a broth soup with vegetables in it, to our surprise its more of like a veggie puree. Delicious though. Also here, they love to wrap everything in bacon, definitely have grown accustomed to that!

Oh My Guinness

Soo in a week in Dublin, we have discovered that there are truly only two sports in Ireland: Rugby and Guinness. As a U of I girl, this was quite a slap in the face, and have grown more accustomed to the Irish cider Bulmer's. Scottie and Tom have made themselves quite at home:

We've had some nights out in downtown Dublin, but have learned that they eat away your wallet euro by euro. The first couple nights we went out, we ventured into the Temple Bar district, which is  undoubtedly the most expensive area in Dublin (ooops). 

                           

So after a while, we've learned the student pubs and clubs. Funny, a beer garden in the states is just a concrete square outside a bar for smokers and people to get some fresh air..in Europe, you feel like you've stepped into an oasis filled with trees and waterfalls.

Some problems we've come across while studying at UCD:

1. EVERYONE has the same phone. Pay as you go. Free Irish texting. Enough Said.

              

          

2. Do NOT under ANY circumstances, ask for a "ride" home. Here, that does not mean, "Hello taxi driver, can you take me to UCD?" instead it makes you a prostitute paying THEM for services.

3. People love to graffiti historic monuments, casual display of Irish witty "craic," Gaelic for fun humor.

         

4. Teachers also love to say "craic" in class. Don't giggle.

5. Ireland also has its own Statue of Liberty, except their could fit inside our Lady's torch. According to our tourguide, the people of Ireland resent their statue because she has her back turned on her people. Good thing ours is on an island.